Shehan Karunatilaka The reason I chose 1989 was because I was a bit of a coward. I wanted to write about 2009 and the end of the war, with the basic premise of what if the dead could speak. But I wasn’t brave enough to engage there. by Pasan Jayasinghe, The Hindu’s Frontline, Chennai, September… Read more »
The UN Human Rights Council Must Strengthen Its Oversight of Sri Lanka
during the crisis triggered by the political and economic collapse by Amnesty International, London, September 9, 2022 Index Number: ASA 37/6022/2022 Amnesty International urges the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), when it meets for its 51st session (12 September – 7 October 2022), to strengthen the existing Sri Lanka accountability project of the Office… Read more »
Child Soldiers from Ceylon, before Prabhakaran’s Time
by Sachi Sri Kantha, September 6, 2022 One of the chief arrows aimed at Prabhakaran and LTTE by his adversaries (especially by Tamil collaborators of the Sinhalese ruling hierarchy like Lakshman Kadirgamar and the self-serving pretentious clique who tagged themselves as the University Teachers for Human Rights (UTHR) – Jaffna, led by Rajan Hoole) in… Read more »
Sri Lankan Conflict Map Supports UN Work on Accountability
by Public Interest Advocacy Centre, Sydney, Australia, September 7, 2022 The Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC) has released a landmark interactive conflict map, detailing thousands of reported human rights violations occurring during the civil war in Sri Lanka between 1983 and 2009. This conflict map will provide crucial foundational support for the United Nations’ and Member… Read more »
What do Imaginations of Haunted Landscapes Tell us about Everyday Politics?
by Erol Saglam, Takhayyul, University College London, Sept. 7, 2022 How should we then make sense of this two-dimensional engagement with the past, that is one denying the historicity of the societal violence and its destructive aftermath and the other reminiscing it discreetly and in transfigured ways? I could not help but ask whether, alongside… Read more »
A Poisoned Chalice
How international aid bolstered Sri Lankan despots by Viruben Nandakumar, Tamil Guardian, London, September 7, 2022 “I was born into a debt-free nation”, claimed Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe as he accepted yet another loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on behalf of the island. This will be the seventeenth time since independence that… Read more »
Letter to Core Group at UNHRC
by Tamil politicians and civil society, Sri Lanka, August 28, 2022 August 28, 2022 To: Foreign Ministers of the Sri Lanka Core-Group at the UN Human Rights Council Dear Foreign Ministers, Since you take the lead on Sri Lanka as members of the Sri Lanka Core-Group at the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC), we from… Read more »
The Politics of the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA)
and PTA Reform by Alan Keenan, Sri Lanka Campaign for Peace & Justice, March 2022 Politics of PTA and PTA Reform Mar 2022 Keenan PDF Why does Sri Lanka’s Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) matter? What do we know about how the current Sri Lankan government is using the PTA as a tool to maintain… Read more »
Sri Lanka at Critical Juncture
UN report urges progress on accountability, institutional and security sector reforms by Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Geneva, September 6, 2022 GENEVA (6 Sept 2022) – Sri Lanka’s new Government should embark on a national dialogue to advance human rights and reconciliation, a UN report urges today, calling for accountability and deeper institutional reforms… Read more »
HCHR: Situation of Human Rights in Sri Lanka
by UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Geneva, September 6, 2022 A_HRC_51_5_AdvanceUneditedVersion-4 Advanced Unedited Edition A/HRC/51/5 Human Rights Council Fifty-first session 12 September–7 October Agenda item 2 Annual report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and reports of the Office of the High Commissioner and the Secretary-General Summary Sri Lanka is experiencing… Read more »
An Overview of Sangam Literature சங்க இலக்கியம்
by R Shanmugananthan, Sydney, September 2, 2022 Flags of Cheras Cholas and Pandyas When I was reading about Arumuganavalar and C W Thomotharam Pillai, I found that they have done pioneering work in rediscovering Sangam Poetry even before U Ve Saminatha Iyer. Their work appears not to have been given credit. That led me write… Read more »
The IMF’s Staff-Level Agreement with Sri Lanka
by Meera Srinivasan, The Hindu, Chennai, September 5, 2022 What are the pre-requisites IMF laid down before the Sri Lankan government? How has India reacted to the agreement? The story so far: The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on September 1 announced a staff-level agreement with Sri Lanka, months after the island nation’s economic crisis intensified… Read more »
The Root and the Hour
by Vajra Chandrasekera in his blog, September 4, 2022 The “Sinhala nation” does not exist, and yet the state is designed in its service, and all politics revolves around its fears and desires. This is how we got where we are. This is not the need of the hour, you might say: we were talking… Read more »
From Sachi’s Files – Chapter 20
Colombo Diary of Teenage Years (1965-1970) by Sachi Sri Kantha Front Note When my teenage period began (from 1966 May 8 onwards), I was living at No. 10, Government Flats, L-block, Bambalapitiya, Colombo 4, with my family. Then, I was at Grade 10, at Colombo Hindu College, Ratmalana. I had been chosen for the honorary… Read more »
PEARL: No Trials, Only Tribulations for Tamil Victims of Sri Lanka’s Conflict-related Sexual Violence
by People for Equality and Relief in Lanka, August 31, 2022 Report here. Press Release PEARL’s latest report: No Trials, Only Tribulations for Tamil Victims of Sri Lanka’s Conflict-related Sexual Violence Washington D.C.; August 31, 2022 — The Sri Lankan government is unwilling to investigate and prosecute those responsible for conflict-related sexual violence against Tamils, People… Read more »
The First Thamil Eelam Sports Festival – July 2004
by Nagalingam Ethirveerasingam, Ph.D., July 31, 2022 The First Thamil Sports Festival was held in the Kilinochchi Playgrounds in July 2004. The one-week of sports festival was organized under the guidance of the Sports Unit of the Thamil Eelam administration. Participants from the 8 Districts in the North-East took part in the Week-long competitions in Soccer,… Read more »
A Desperate Smokescreen
Tamil Guardian editorial, London, August 28, 2022 As the 51st session of the UN Human Rights Council nears, Sri Lanka’s Sinhala leaders scramble to present the country as on the verge of a democratic breakthrough. Plans to reform Sri Lanka’s draconian counter-terrorism legislation, decriminalise same-sex relations, and delist select Tamil diaspora organisations have been met… Read more »
What’s in Store for the Ninth?
by Nillanthan Maha on his blog, August 6, 2022 [translated with Google with edits] General Sarath Fonseka had warned that people would take to the streets on the coming ninth day. It seems that the people did not accept what he said. There was an allegation that Sarath Fonseka was trying to “hijack” the protests…. Read more »
Why the 1987 Indo-Sri Lanka Accord Failed
Rebutting the Biased View of Journalist Jeyaraj by Sachi Sri Kantha, August 7, 2022 Recently, a review by D.B.S. Jeyaraj on the Indo-Sri Lanka Accord (appropriately tagged as the Rajiv – Jayewardane Accord) was published in the Daily Mirror (Colombo) on July 30, 2022, under the caption ‘Indo-Lanka Accord 35th Anniversary: How the Tamils Messed… Read more »
US Congress on Sri Lanka July 2022
by Reps. Danny Davis & Bill Johnson, Co-Chairs, Caucus on Religious & Ethnic Freedom in Sri Lanka 20220719 Johnson Davis letter to Sec Blinken *** by Senator Sherrod Brown JULY 20, 2022 BROWN STATEMENT FOLLOWING SRI LANKAN PARLIAMENT VOTE WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) issued the below statement after the Sri Lankan… Read more »